birding-aus

Crakes, rails, Painted Snipes & other somewhat mythical creatures

To: <>
Subject: Crakes, rails, Painted Snipes & other somewhat mythical creatures
From: "Lawrie Conole" <>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 16:08:55 +1100
Back when I was a lad in Geelong (central-south Victoria) it seemed to
me that crakes, rails and Painted Snipes were the most cryptic and
difficult things to get on to - I regarded them as largely mythical
until I got a few under my belt.  Australasian and Little Bitterns
fitted into the same category.  Spotted Crake was the exception - fairly
abundant and easy to see in suitable habitat.  I can recall looking in
drains, gutters, swamps, etc. for the Buff-banded Rail.  After a few
years of this I got a glimpse of one, and then they popped up more
frequently of course - the next one was standing on the footpath outside
a milk bar in Dunolly in the Victorian goldfields region!!

These days it seems like there are barrow loads of these things in every
bunch of Cumbungi.  I've seen more Baillon's Crakes in the last 5 years
than I saw in the previous 20.

What has changed?  Have we all got better at finding them?  Have they
become more abundant?  Have they become a bit more habituated to people
being in their habitats?  Have they been displaced from other places
more remote from the big towns?  Or some combination of all of
these?????

Interested to hear your perspectives.

=================================
Lawrie Conole
Senior Ecologist
 
Ecology Australia Pty. Ltd.
Flora and Fauna Consultants
88B Station Street
FAIRFIELD VIC 3078 Australia
E-mail: 
Internet: http://www.ecologyaustralia.com.au/
Ph: (03) 9489 4191; Mob: (0419) 588 993
Fax: (03) 9481 7679
ABN 83 006 757 142

NOTE: This message may contain privileged and/or confidential
information intended for addressees only.  Please do not copy or forward
without permission.


Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Crakes, rails, Painted Snipes & other somewhat mythical creatures, Lawrie Conole <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU